Topic #1: The Jennifer Jo Cobb situationTo say that Rick Russell and the 2nd Chance Motorsports operation exrienced nothing short of an all-out mutiny at Bristol today is an understatement. To explain the whole messy situation, Cobb was pulled out of the car at Fontana and ten minutes before race-time for Saturday’s Scotts E-Z Seed 300, she was told she would be parking the car. This breached her contract with the team and she immediately walked away from the team. Not only did Cobb walk away, but her crew, her crew chief, and her PR representative all left the team as well. With no crew, 2nd Chance Motorsports was originally not allowed to run on the track. But after they procured the services of Chris Lawson and a crew that was basically patched together at the last moment, they parked the car after four laps.While it’s not clear yet whether this stand will help or hurt Jennifer Jo’s career, one has to applaud the fact that she wants to race and does not want to start and park. To make a move like that took a lot of courage and it’s clear that Cobb’s principles were such that she was not going to park her car because she felt it would be a detriment to her career. Whether you agree or disagree, to stand up for your principles at the risk of jeapordizing one’s career is a gutsy decision.

Topic #2: The Domination Of Kyle BuschWhether you love him or hate him, one cannot help but marvel at the impressive track record of Kyle Busch as of late in the Nationwide Series. It was pointed out by ESPN that Kyle at lap 265 had led his 10,000th career lap and by leading 272 of the race’s 300 laps, not to mention procuring his 4th straight Bristol victory, and earning a perfect driver rating of 150.0. To say what Kyle has achieved not just at Bristol, but in the Nationwide Series in such a short amount of time (45 victories in 206 starts) is remarkable. But on the flip-side of the coin, is there any real purpose to the smack-down that he keeps laying on the Nationwide Series regulars? It’s obvious to even the most lay observer that Kyle has the best equipment in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and while some media outlets continue to gush over Kyle’s career NASCAR wins and seem ####-bent on rewriting the NASCAR record book to make him sound more dominant than Richard Petty, it’s demoralizing and depressing for all these Nationwide teams to get spanked like this week-in and week-out with very fdrivers even having any kind of prayer of sniffing the tire tracks of Kyle Busch. Sure, he’s a dominant Nationwide Series driver, but at what cost does this come to the series?

Topic #3: The Tire SituationOn Friday, there were many problems with tires for the Nationwide and Cup teams. The tires issues were indiscriminatory in the Nationwide ranks. They plagued Elliott Sadler’s team and start-an-park teams such as Kevin Lepage and Team Rensi. In fact, the tire issue caused Lepage and his team to have to withdraw from the race. Overnight on Friday, last year’s tire was shipped in to Bristol and the question was, in the minds of crews and drivers, would there be any tire issues? While flat tires were the cause of the incidents of Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski respectively, there were no real significant issues. At least none more so than usual. One has to give the Goodyear people credit for recognizing there was a problem and (largely) averting a disaster like the Indianapolis race in 2008 when there were only 10-lap stretches of green flag racing, infuriating fans and drivers alike.

Topic #4: Scoring IssuesAround Lap 11, ESPN-viewers noticed that the leader-board that tracked their favorite drivers was not showing up on the screen. This led to well over 50 laps of mass confusion for viewers at home. There was actually a very good reason for this. NASCAR’s official scoring had malfunctioned and it didn’t come back until lap 69, leaving viewers following their favorite Nationwide drivers very confused as to where they were running. Of course, ESPN just kept following the Cup drivers up front so the viewers were not missing the action up front, but this scoring fiasco further made the Nationwide-only drivers look like the weaker sister. This is not what the series needs if it wants to gain their fans back. But given the fact that the Nationwide Series brain-trust (not to mention ESPN officials) have dropped the ball time and time again when they could have fixed things to at least “balance things out” in terms of coverage, it’s not all that surprising that ESPN and the Nationwide Series once again, had another disaster (albeit relatively minor) that they did not need.

Topic #5: This Ain’t Your Daddy’s BristolWhile watching the Nationwide race, I came to realize that the progressive banking, while creating more passing opportunities, has somewhat caused the Nationwide race at Bristol to lose its luster with the fans who come to Bristol for the sake of contact and aggressive driving. It seems like the progressive banking has almost made Bristol somewhat tame and I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Granted, there was more passing at Bristol than in years past, but all the paint-trading and bumper-to-bumper action that made Bristol a must-see event appears to be a thing of ancient history and that very well may be a reason for the dip in attendance at this years Nationwide race at Bristol. Case in point, there have been, on average, four fewer cautions with the new banking than the old surface and while the fans who enjoy racing are appeased, the ones who enjoy the bumping and banging of Bristol past are left disappointed.

Those who intentionally live off another’s labor will always want more free stuff!

While I understand it is an expensive sport and can be a money issue, still it is about racing. If you go into this sport, then you should fully expect to race and not start and park. Hats off to Jennifer, et all.

She bought the tires to run the race herself as well. So then the Owner said she was parking it, the CC went out & put together a crew so she could run the race. The owner told her he would have Nascar black flag her. Personally I think she should have forced Nascars hand & made them do that. That would make Nascar look into this start & park thing. Then I guess the team has some of their own parts on the car as well. When the car got parked the team tried to take their parts & the owner brought the Sheriffs in, to guard the car. Also read where the Owner had threatened the CC with a Jack Handle.

I think Jennifer Jo Cobb made the right move to cut bait with that team. The Owner seems pretty shady. Also I can respect any driver that puts their own money into the car. My question is why was it illegal for them to take back their parts & tires they owned?

1) JJC deserves better than a S&P role. The whole idea of S&P's is a joke. Baseball teams don't take the field expecting to play one inning. Football teams don't take the field expecting to play one quarter. Either make the effort to run the whole race or don't show up. How can any team, owner or driver feel good about running a few laps every week, with no chance of accomplishing anything?

2) Kyle is a great driver with great equipment. Having said that ... yawn. I have absolutely nothing against Kyle, but really, what's the point in running 3 series? Money? Wins against teams with less finances and experience? Personally I would not only limit drivers to selecting which series they accumulate points in, but also limit how many races they can run in their second/third choice series. Again, nothing against Kyle, but it gets old.

3) Tires, like equipment, don't always do what they're supposed to. I didn't see practices or qualifying so don't know a lot about it, but it seems that the problem was corrected for the CUP race at least. Crap happens.

4) Again, crap happens. Technical problems are going to pop up now and then, no matter what. Seems the broadcast could have had some type of basic backup system though to show the running order. And maybe they figured it's just easier to concentrate on the CUP guys and forget everyone else, since they ended up dominating anyway. As usual. Yawn.

5) Bristol seemed too clean of a race. Maybe part of it is the points system, and teams still testing the waters with the new scoring and not wanting too risk too much this early in the season. At least it wasn't a copy of Daytona's 2 Driver Tango.

She was on The Hub tonight and she was great. No crap talking about the situation and managed to put a positive outlook of it. I was really impressed. She is a wonderful representative for women drivers! I think she will be in Fontana running the #41.

dirt93 wrote:She was on The Hub tonight and she was great. No crap talking about the situation and managed to put a positive outlook of it. I was really impressed. She is a wonderful representative for women drivers! I think she will be in Fontana running the #41.

wolfgang wrote:Jennifer made the right decision,i stand behind her-in front of her-beside her,which ever i can.Seriously,i have alot more respect for her than that whinny %itch Danica,Jr. should hire Cobb!

OH no kidding. Did you hear Damnica after the NW? Dear golly, it was a stereotypical racing incident and as Truex's CC said: "she's never been wrong about anything in her life." IMO, Danica is a dreadful role model and JennJo is an exceptional one.

Jennifer Jo Cobb will drive the No. 41 Ford for Rick Ware Racing in the Nationwide Series this weekend at Auto Club Speedway.Cobb said Ware approached her shortly after she left the No. 79 of 2nd Chance Motorsports prior to the race's start at Bristol Motor Speedway after a disagreement with her car owner, Rick Russell."He said, 'Go get in the car,' " Cobb said. "I told him I wasn't in it. He was like, 'Why? Why?' and then he said, 'Whatever you need I've got your back. I have a short-term solution for you.' I knew then and there I would race at California."RWR vice president Dave Mitchell said it's a week-to-week deal right now, with the team and Cobb looking for the sponsorship necessary to put her in a ride full time. Cobb said the team is looking for short-term sponsorship to allow them to lessen the out-of-pocket cost for Ware himself."This is not a rental ride situation at all," Cobb said.For Mitchell, it was a case of paying it forward. When RWR had a part-time crew member killed in a car accident that also injured another part-time crewman a week ago, Mitchell said so many people reached out to the team and offered to help."We always say, 'If you're capable of going out and driving one race, you're capable of driving all of them,'" Mitchell said. "If the sponsorship is there, absolutely. We'll do everything we can to make that happen. We had so many people praying for us, it only seemed right for us to lend a hand as well."Carl Long will move to a different car for RWR at Fontana, and Cobb will run as part of a three-car team along with fellow rookie of the year contender Timmy Hill."I asked Rick how that would work," Cobb said. "I said, 'I'm going against your rookie of the year contender.' Rick said, 'I guess it gives me a pretty good shot of being the owner of the rookie of the year's car.'"I did not do this to make a statement. I did not do this to take a stand. I don't have a problem with people who start and park. It's just not for me. It's become such a media spectacle, and all I want to do is just go race."

Those who intentionally live off another’s labor will always want more free stuff!

I found the whole situation sort'of strange to say the least. I've never been a BIG fan of Cobb, but she has been improving. I'll have to give her kudo's for standing her ground. In a male dominated sport, it's the only way she'll ever get any respect! You go girl!

remember to enjoy life.....none of us are going to get out alive anyway

wolfgang wrote:Jennifer made the right decision,i stand behind her-in front of her-beside her,which ever i can.Seriously,i have alot more respect for her than that whinny %itch Danica,Jr. should hire Cobb!

OH no kidding. Did you hear Damnica after the NW? Dear golly, it was a stereotypical racing incident and as Truex's CC said: "she's never been wrong about anything in her life." IMO, Danica is a dreadful role model and JennJo is an exceptional one.